US President Barack Obama has declared a major state of disaster in several of the hardest hit areas, including Baton Rouge, to free up vital federal funding.

Along with Louisiana, neighbouring Alabama and Mississippi have also experienced severe weather.

Marketa Walters, Secretary of the Department of Children and Family Services in Louisiana said: ‘‘This is a fast moving ever changing operation and just as one shelter stands up, water comes and we have move people out of that shelter to another shelter so we are working diligently with all of our partners.”

The intensity of the storms has eased over the last 24-hours, but Louisiana’s state governor John Edwards warned people not to venture out, emphasizing the flooding was ‘not over’.